which_chick (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
which_chick) wrote2019-04-05 01:14 pm
which_chick) wrote2019-04-05 01:14 pm
Entry tags:
Horse shopping. Depressing as hell for oh so many reasons...
Today's reason is the following pair of Dreamhorse.com ads. I've removed the identifying info but you can totally find the ads if you want.
Ad #1 is for a 1996-era mare, free: "I have agonized about this for years, but now I must part with my 2 beautiful Arabian horses. My husband is retiring soon, which will result in reduced income. We will be downsizing by moving from our current property to eventually something smaller. Ideally, we would love for our horses to stay here and someone buy our property and them, but that is a longshot. Therefore, we feel that in order for them to receive the care and attention they deserve (and more than they are getting now), this may be our best option.
Horse #1 is listed as free, only because she must go as a companion horse to her son, Horse #2. Although she has had extensive groundwork and was briefly under saddle years ago, she has a hind leg issue which would prevent her from being ridden, but doesn't keep her from running when she wants to or wandering around the whole pasture. She is quiet and gentle for the most part, and prefers to let Horse #2 lead the way."
Ad #2 is for a 2004 gelding, $500: "I have agonized about this for years, but now I must part with my 2 beautiful Arabian horses. My husband is retiring soon, which will result in reduced income. We will be downsizing by moving from our current property to eventually something smaller. Ideally, we would love for our horses to stay here and someone buy our property and them, but that is a longshot. Therefore, we feel that in order for them to receive the care and attention they deserve (and more than they are getting now), this may be our best option.
Horse #2 is a very smart, quick and spirited gelding. He requires a firm hand and probably an experienced rider, as he will keep you on your toes. He has not been ridden yet, but has had extensive groundwork through the years with saddle and bridle. It wouldn't take long to finish him, and I have no doubt he could eventually be great in a show ring if someone wished to do so with him. He is a terrific presence. And what a great personality! I just love this horse, and I know someone else will too. Horse #2 will only be sold with his mother, Horse #1."
So now, let's do some fucking math and re-examine these ads with a buyer's eye. I like to read for meaning, so here is my reading for meaning.
$500 buys you a 23 year old mare and her 15 year old son. Horses are likely frantic without each other and will require a certain amount of deprogramming to behave normally when separated. Mare was started under saddle once upon a time but is currently unsound with an unspecified "hind leg issue" that I'd lay money was stringhalt. Gelding is fifteen years old and has absolutely no idea how to be a riding horse. Probably lacks manners.
Advertiser acts like husband's retirement is a surprise instead of something that has been inexorably approaching for ages. Advertiser seems to be unaware that there exists a perfectly good horse industry out there willing to take $$ in exchange for starting horses under saddle so that one need not risk one's over-fifty limbs in the process. Advertiser thinks someone out there in the world wants to buy BOTH the acreage/farm and also the two currently-useless horses occupying it, like that's going to happen.
This is not an owner doing right by her horses. This is not an owner doing right by the horse she made. (It was her mare and she bred it for the gelding and she DID NOT do right by the gelding. Geldings need to be able to do jobs. He should ride or drive or SOMETHING and he does not do anything. GAH.)
Look, people. If you put a baby horse on the ground and you don't sell it as a youngster too young to have a job, it is your DUTY to get the horse some job skills. Learn to lead, learn to tie, learn to tolerate handling all over the body. Get on and off trailers. Work in-hand. Here is a saddle. Here is a bridle. Here's life as a riding horse. You are irresponsible and bad when you let your horse grow to be fifteen years old and not have a single fucking job skill.
Also, do not be asking me about people marketing their ten year old 'broodmares' who don't fucking ride. What the hell? HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW IF YOU LIKE THE MARE ENOUGH TO BREED HER IF YOU HAVE NEVER GIVEN HER A JOB TO SEE HOW SHE HANDLES WORK? People who take this approach to Arabian horses probably also prefer their diamonds uncut, unfaceted, and unpolished -- you know, looking like muddy bits of cheap glass. Look, you idiots, you need to give your fucking horses a chance to show you how beautiful they can REALLY be. Throw a leg over them. Put them to work.
I can't even. Why on earth would you select a breed of horse that will work its flouncy little ass off for you, that will hold up and prosper under the work, that will be quite happy and proud to work for you, and then... not ride it? Do you also get border collies and pen them up in 1 bedroom apartments with nothing to do all day? Who the hell are you people?
Ad #1 is for a 1996-era mare, free: "I have agonized about this for years, but now I must part with my 2 beautiful Arabian horses. My husband is retiring soon, which will result in reduced income. We will be downsizing by moving from our current property to eventually something smaller. Ideally, we would love for our horses to stay here and someone buy our property and them, but that is a longshot. Therefore, we feel that in order for them to receive the care and attention they deserve (and more than they are getting now), this may be our best option.
Horse #1 is listed as free, only because she must go as a companion horse to her son, Horse #2. Although she has had extensive groundwork and was briefly under saddle years ago, she has a hind leg issue which would prevent her from being ridden, but doesn't keep her from running when she wants to or wandering around the whole pasture. She is quiet and gentle for the most part, and prefers to let Horse #2 lead the way."
Ad #2 is for a 2004 gelding, $500: "I have agonized about this for years, but now I must part with my 2 beautiful Arabian horses. My husband is retiring soon, which will result in reduced income. We will be downsizing by moving from our current property to eventually something smaller. Ideally, we would love for our horses to stay here and someone buy our property and them, but that is a longshot. Therefore, we feel that in order for them to receive the care and attention they deserve (and more than they are getting now), this may be our best option.
Horse #2 is a very smart, quick and spirited gelding. He requires a firm hand and probably an experienced rider, as he will keep you on your toes. He has not been ridden yet, but has had extensive groundwork through the years with saddle and bridle. It wouldn't take long to finish him, and I have no doubt he could eventually be great in a show ring if someone wished to do so with him. He is a terrific presence. And what a great personality! I just love this horse, and I know someone else will too. Horse #2 will only be sold with his mother, Horse #1."
So now, let's do some fucking math and re-examine these ads with a buyer's eye. I like to read for meaning, so here is my reading for meaning.
$500 buys you a 23 year old mare and her 15 year old son. Horses are likely frantic without each other and will require a certain amount of deprogramming to behave normally when separated. Mare was started under saddle once upon a time but is currently unsound with an unspecified "hind leg issue" that I'd lay money was stringhalt. Gelding is fifteen years old and has absolutely no idea how to be a riding horse. Probably lacks manners.
Advertiser acts like husband's retirement is a surprise instead of something that has been inexorably approaching for ages. Advertiser seems to be unaware that there exists a perfectly good horse industry out there willing to take $$ in exchange for starting horses under saddle so that one need not risk one's over-fifty limbs in the process. Advertiser thinks someone out there in the world wants to buy BOTH the acreage/farm and also the two currently-useless horses occupying it, like that's going to happen.
This is not an owner doing right by her horses. This is not an owner doing right by the horse she made. (It was her mare and she bred it for the gelding and she DID NOT do right by the gelding. Geldings need to be able to do jobs. He should ride or drive or SOMETHING and he does not do anything. GAH.)
Look, people. If you put a baby horse on the ground and you don't sell it as a youngster too young to have a job, it is your DUTY to get the horse some job skills. Learn to lead, learn to tie, learn to tolerate handling all over the body. Get on and off trailers. Work in-hand. Here is a saddle. Here is a bridle. Here's life as a riding horse. You are irresponsible and bad when you let your horse grow to be fifteen years old and not have a single fucking job skill.
Also, do not be asking me about people marketing their ten year old 'broodmares' who don't fucking ride. What the hell? HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW IF YOU LIKE THE MARE ENOUGH TO BREED HER IF YOU HAVE NEVER GIVEN HER A JOB TO SEE HOW SHE HANDLES WORK? People who take this approach to Arabian horses probably also prefer their diamonds uncut, unfaceted, and unpolished -- you know, looking like muddy bits of cheap glass. Look, you idiots, you need to give your fucking horses a chance to show you how beautiful they can REALLY be. Throw a leg over them. Put them to work.
I can't even. Why on earth would you select a breed of horse that will work its flouncy little ass off for you, that will hold up and prosper under the work, that will be quite happy and proud to work for you, and then... not ride it? Do you also get border collies and pen them up in 1 bedroom apartments with nothing to do all day? Who the hell are you people?